1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector with improved cantilevered arms integrally formed on a metal shell for locking with a mateable connector. The instant application relates to U.S. applications titled “ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR WITH RESILIENT ARM CONFIGURED IN SIMPLE SUPPORTED BEAM MANNER FORMED ON METAL SHELL”, filed Feb. 16, 2011, application Ser. No. 13/028247, and “ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR WITH IMPROVED LOCKING PROTRUSION INTEGRALLY FORMED ON METAL SHELL”, filed Feb. 23, 2011, application Ser. No. 13/032708, respectively, and having the same assignee therewith.
2. Description of Related Art
Micro-USB connectors, including receptacle connectors and plug connectors, are usually used as a standard power charging port or a standard data transmission port in mobile devices. U.S. Pat. No. 7,824,222 B2 issued to Miyoshi et al. on Nov. 2, 2010 discloses such an electrical plug connector including an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts fixed on the insulative housing, a pair of locking members retained on the insulative housing and located at lateral sides of the contacts, and top and bottom metal covers jointly enclosing the insulative housing. The insulative housing defines a pair of slots for accommodating movement of the locking members. Each locking member includes a retaining portion fixed in the insulative housing, a cantilevered beam extending forwardly from the retaining portion, and a hook formed on the distal end of the cantilevered beam. Each hook extends upwardly through a cutout of the top metal cover for locking with a complementary metal shell of a receptacle connector. However, since the locking members are separately made, an additional assembly process for mounting the locking member to the insulative housing is required, which will increase the costs of the plug connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,558 issued to Osanai et al. on Aug. 26, 1997 discloses an electrical connector including an insulative housing and top and bottom metal shells attached to the insulative housing along opposite directions. The top metal shell includes a base and a pair of forked cantilevered arms extending forwardly beyond a front surface of the base. Each cantilevered arm is elongate and includes a hook located at a distal end thereof for mating with a mateable connector. Besides, in order to accommodate the cantilevered arms, a pair of slits are needed to be formed on the insulative housing, which might restrict contact arrangement. With the trend that the transmission speed of connectors becomes more and more faster, the contact density in the connectors is getting higher. Under this situation, there will be no extra space on the insulative housing for mounting the locking members.
Hence, an electrical connector having improved locking protrusions integrally formed on a metal shell is desired.